Metrobus Commuter Forum getting ready for new leadership

26 May 2017

 

Johannesburg Metrobus, the City of Johannesburg’s public passenger bus service, which ferries more than 70 000 passengers on 220 routes across the city daily, has been successfully working with the Metrobus Commuter Forum to improve commuters’ experience of the service.

 

This means there are 1 863 trips that are undertaken in Johannesburg on a daily basis. That is a lot of trips and passengers. And there is bound to be some unhappiness among the commuters. This is where the Metrobus Commuter Forum comes in.

The forum, which was established in 2009, is a constitutional body that brings the bus company and commuters together. It is run by a 12-member executive committee made up of four Metrobus executives and eight passenger representatives from all the regions the company services. It mediates and finds solutions to commuters’ complaints. Suggestions are also taken into consideration.

Elections will be held later in the year and the new forum members will assume their roles early in 2018. Elected members serve on the forum for three years.

The forum is led by Acting Metrobus Managing Director Zane Mheyamwa, Acting General Manager: Operations John Gamede and two other members of the Metrobus executive committee.

Gamede, who chairs the forum, says meetings are held on the last Thursday of the month. “The purpose of the forum is to promote a relationship between commuters and the company and also to ensure a speedy resolution of complaints,” says Gamede.

“We have been able to resolve a number of complaints. As we speak, we have fewer complaints. The majority of complaints are about faulty tags and the late arrival of buses.”

The forum is constituted under the Municipal Systems Act of 2000. According to the forum’s constitution, its aims and objectives are to:

 Establish a link between Metrobus commuters and the company;

 Inform commuters on matters directly related to the services rendered by Metrobus;

 Assist Metrobus in improving its services by making recommendations and/or proposals;

 Ensure that all Metrobus users are well-informed about the company’s policies and special projects that have an impact on them;

 Assist Metrobus in making buses user-friendly, safe and environmentally conscious; and

 Make commuters aware of the role and responsibilities the Forum has been tasked to fulfil.

In turn, forum members are expected to:

 Act as a conduit between commuters and Metrobus management;

 Attend monthly meetings on a regular basis;

 Submit reports at those meetings on their observations; and

 Offer or provide a supportive role to Metrobus management and to assist them in resolving transport-related

problems.

Commuters who are members of the forum are entitled to use Metrobus for free within their assigned regions.

To be elected to the committee, one must be a regular commuter and be nominated by other passengers in their regions.